


Of Archers and Arrows

by PaxieAmor



Series: Lady Iron of SHIELD [2]
Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: BroFic, Clint Is So Not A Merry Man, F/M, M/M, Robin Hood - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-20
Updated: 2012-03-20
Packaged: 2017-11-02 06:49:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,457
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/366131
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaxieAmor/pseuds/PaxieAmor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>While Toni is on bed rest, she and Clint bond over something unexpected.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of Archers and Arrows

**Author's Note:**

  * For [See_Kay_Write](https://archiveofourown.org/users/See_Kay_Write/gifts), [gyzym](https://archiveofourown.org/users/gyzym/gifts).



> For [Kay](http://archiveofourown.org/users/See_Kay_Write/pseuds/See_Kay_Write), who puts up with my crap and likes it when I write fluffy fics :D
> 
> For [gyzym](http://archiveofourown.org/users/gyzym/pseuds/gyzym), who's fics got me into reading Tony/Steve and who's story "[The Only John Wayne In This Town](http://archiveofourown.org/works/364902)" has helped me rediscover an appreciation for good country music and has given me new insight into Clint Barton ♥

Insanely enough, it all started with Robin Hood.

Following the confrontation with Justin Hammer and her orders to be on bed rest, Toni had behaved so much that she was allowed (by both Steve and her doctor) to walk about the house; as long as she didn’t do anything too strenuous or go anywhere near her workshop. She wouldn’t agree to that last part.

“I haven’t seen Dummy or You in a week,” she protested. “They probably think I’ve abandoned them!”

“The moment you go down there, you’ll start making me a pair of rocket boots or something,” Steve replied, unable to hide the amusement in his voice; just last week, she’d threatened to donate both robots to an art college for putting a dent in one of the walls (the circumstances surrounding the incident remain mysterious).

“I’ve already _started_ making you a pair of rocket boots, Steve, I just currently lack the sheer boredom required to finish them.” Toni rarely made things that were required to come in pairs; she liked doing things only once because repetition was boring. Building a pair of rocket boots meant that both had to be made exactly the same and despite having been on bed rest, she wasn’t bored enough to build the same thing twice. “Just give me five minutes? Ten tops, I won’t work on anything!”

True to her word, Toni (with Steve supervising) was down in the workshop for ten minutes, during which her robots almost trampled her when they stampeded over. There were cuddles involved, as were happy cooing-like sounds from both robots; Toni gave them fond pats, followed by some simple tasks to keep them occupied until she could come down to check on them again. They looked sad when she left; Toni looked the same way.

Seriously, though, this story is about Robin Hood.

Toni did not test the boundaries of her newfound freedom; she was still supposed to be on bed rest and knew very well that Steve would lock her in her bedroom if he felt she was abusing her privileges. The SHIELD doctors insisted she wasn’t ready to travel anywhere yet, which meant there would be no Malibu until she was cleared to travel. Therefore, no boundary testing; just moving the twenty yards from her bedroom down to the first floor living room, which had the best TV in the house, and the kitchen.

She looked through her DVD collection, debating on what she wanted to watch. Despite his namesake, Castiel does _not_ like “Supernatural” and will literally try to climb onto Toni’s head if he’s scared enough; he has incredibly sharp claws for a pup and Toni decided she didn’t need any more injuries. Just then, her fingers slide across an old movie she hasn’t seen in years; she had it on film reels when she was a child, one of the few things that she had asked Howard for and he actually gave her, and she watched it until the machine died. She probably still had that old reel up in the front attic if she ever bothered to look.

Toni made herself a sandwich—a ham, bacon and roast beef on white, with mayo, spinach and onion that is for some reason called a ‘Pax-wich’ (maybe it’s the sandwich that can obtain world peace or something, Toni has no idea)—and grabbed a cherry cola out of the fridge before snuggling down in her favorite corner of the couch. Castiel leaps up next to her, snuggling against her legs but keeping his eyes fixed upon her sandwich. She rolled her eyes and dropped a piece onto the floor for him, pressing play on the DVD player.

“Hey, whatcha watchin’?” Toni did her best to hold back a groan as Clint plopped down onto the couch beside her. She’d forgotten that he was going to be the one taking care of her today (read as: making sure she didn’t slip back into the workshop when no one was looking).

“You have to promise not to throw a fit when I tell you,” Toni replied. Before he could answer, the movie began; an instrumental melody playing over a medieval themed title card that read “The Adventures of Robin Hood”.

“Aw, sweet!” Clint almost seemed giddy, much to Toni’s surprise. “I didn’t know you had this!”

“I didn’t think you’d want to watch it,” Toni admitted. It was the 1938 version, starring Errol Flynn, Olivia de Havilland and Basil Rathbone (who, despite being this film’s villain, was Toni’s favorite), but that wasn’t why she thought Clint wouldn’t like it. “I mean, you get miffed when anyone calls you “Robin Hood”, unless it’s Coulson…” Her eyes widened slightly at her sudden realization. She looked at Clint, who was absently scratching Castiel behind the ears and _blushing_. “Wow, man… I didn’t think you could blush at all, let alone like that…”

“Fuck you.”

“No thanks, I don’t screw people with significant others.” That got a laugh out of the archer, and while Toni was speaking the truth, a laugh was all she really wanted. “You happy?” she asked, watching Robin stare down Sir Guy over a man who was simply trying to feed his family.

“Yeah, I am,” Clint replied. There was no anger in his voice, no annoyance at Toni prying into his personal life… just happiness that Toni couldn’t help smiling at.

“Good for you, man.”

They sat in silence for a while, just watching the events unveil on the screen in front of them. Clint grinned like a complete maniac whenever Robin shot his bow and Toni found herself grinning as well. Though her actions may have said otherwise, she really liked the archer; he was a complete jackass, but hell, she was a total bitch. Nobody’s perfect and they were prime examples.

Beyond the jackassery (verb: to act like a jackass; definition from the Toni Stark Dictionary), Clint was really a decent guy; smart, quick with a joke, quicker with his bow… she’d never admit it to anyone, but there had been a bit of lusting after him when she first saw him. She probably would have shagged him, had she not just broken up with Pepper. Not even her worst enemy deserved being her rebound fuck, and neither did Clint Barton.

“I could do that,” he said suddenly, shaking her from her thoughts. They had gotten to the archery tournament by now; Robin was competing to win a golden arrow, which was to be presented to the winner by Maid Marian, and he had just split an arrow that was already in the bull’s eye of a target in half using one of his own.

“Probably not,” Toni admitted. She hadn’t meant it to be critical, but Clint had apparently taken it that way.

“What do you mean ‘probably not’?” he asked, his flaring temper reflected in the tone of his voice. His face was red again, but not from embarrassment. “You trying to say I couldn’t make that shot?”

“No! It’s the arrow…”

“Oh, so the arrow does all the work, not the archer?”

“No you _moron_! Not the arrow you’re shooting, the one in the _target_!” He blinked at her, his angered expression changing to confusion.

“Um… what?”

“I don’t have any doubt you could make the shot,” Toni told him. “Hell, if anyone could do it, it’d be you. I’m just not sure the arrow would split like that, whether you made the shot or not.”

“Why not?”

“The wood grain.”

“What about it?”

“The firing arrow would likely follow it, exiting at the side rather than completely splitting the arrow.” Clint bit his bottom lip, seemingly considering what Toni had just said.

“Huh,” he replied after a bit, settling back against the couch to finish watching the movie. “Never thought of it that way… I supposed you’re right…”

“Maybe I’m not.” Clint looked at her, eyebrows raised. “Maybe it’s got nothing to do with the target arrow; maybe it’s just the archer.” A grin curled her lips. “Wanna find out?”

When the rest of the Avengers returned to the mansion that night, they found Toni and Clint in the backyard; she was in a chaise lounge with her tablet, spewing out calculations to him while he fired shots at a single arrow in the bull’s eye of a target about thirty yards away.

“Make sure you adjust for the wind!”

“There is no wind to adjust for!”

“There isn’t _here_ , but maybe there is by the target!”

“That doesn’t make any sense, Toni!”

It took more tries than either of them bothered to count, but the arrow they finally split now holds a place of honor on the mantle in the downstairs living room.

**Author's Note:**

> While not directly referenced in the fic, Toni’s theory on what would happen when someone tries to split a wooden arrow comes from Mythbusters “Splitting An Arrow” myth in episode 36, and it’s revisit in episode 51.


End file.
